Akin: 'Uncomfortable' with 'party bosses' trying to dictate race

Missouri Rep. W. Todd Akin said Wednesday he is “uncomfortable” with “party bosses” trying to dictate his U.S. Senate race, while again apologizing for his controversial remarks on rape and pregnancy that have caused top Republicans around the country — including Mitt Romney — to say he should drop out of the race.

“It makes me uncomfortable to think that the party bosses are going to dictate who runs as opposed to the election process,” Mr. Akin said on ABC’s “Good Morning America.”

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Mr. Akin, who is running against Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill, reiterated that he used the wrong words when he said in a local television interview Sunday that women are less likely to become pregnant in cases of “legitimate rape.”

“The word ‘legitimate’ doesn’t ever have a good reason to be standing next to ‘rape’ — there is no rape that is legitimate,” he said. “I understand that rape is a terrible and a tragic and a violent crime, and that’s why I have apologized for using that word ‘legitimate,’ because it doesn’t belong there. And I also know that I hurt people, and the first thing I felt was right to do was to apologize.

“But I’m not apologizing for the fact that I am pro-life,” he continued. “And that I also believe it’s important to defend the helpless and the unborn.”

He said later he understands pregnancy can happen as a result of rape, but repeated that he was not apologizing for being “consistently pro-life, and I believe in defending the unborn, and I believe that based on those kinds of principles, we can win this race.”